BISHOP OF Galway Dr Martin Drennan “does not intend to resign”, according to his diocesan communications manager Fr Seán McHugh.
The bishop has been under mounting media pressure since four of his colleagues mentioned in the Murphy report on how allegations of child sex abuse were handled in the Dublin archdiocese have tendered resignations.
However, Dr Drennan is “strong in his belief that he did nothing wrong”, Fr McHugh told The Irish Times at the weekend.
In his Christmas Day homily, Dr Drennan spoke of the “darkness of recent times”, including flooding, the recession, the stories of abuse in the publication of the Ryan and Murphy reports, the “stories of greed” in the business world and “stories of excessive expense accounts” in the world of politics.
“I suppose we have rarely seen so much anger in Irish society as we have seen over the past couple of months,” he said, and the biggest challenge now was to “understand our past, to forgive mistakes, to learn from them”, he added.
Following the Christmas Eve resignation of Dublin’s two auxiliary bishops, Dr Éamonn Walsh and Dr Raymond Field, Galway diocesan communications manager Fr Seán McHugh disputed reports that the sole remaining bishop was on the point of stepping down.
“Dr Drennan’s case was different to that of the other four bishops mentioned in the report, in that he wasn’t asked to appear before Judge Murphy’s commission,” Fr McHugh said.
“It is highly significant that Judge Murphy wrote to him at the outset of the commission’s work, but she never asked to speak to him after that when, by then, she would have had access to all the files in Dublin relating to allegations of child sexual abuse,” Fr McHugh said.
“Dr Drennan wasn’t called to give evidence, nor was he sent a draft of any section of the report as happened in the case of the other bishops,” he added.
“In the one case which he was involved in, the Murphy report praises the way the Dublin diocese responded.”
Dr Drennan served as auxiliary bishop in Dublin from 1997 to 2005.
He is mentioned in connection with reports of inappropriate behaviour relating to Fr Guido, which involved male teenagers, in 2002 and 2003 .
Dr Drennan said more than a week ago that he was satisfied with the way he had handled abuse allegations, and that resigning was not the answer.
Fr McHugh said that by 1997, when Dr Drennan was appointed in Dublin, child protection structures were already in place and specific management committees were dealing with cases and reporting directly to the archbishop.
“Dr Drennan is strong in his belief that there is nothing he failed to report, and the label of guilt by association is not something he is happy with,” Fr McHugh said.
Dr Drennan spoke to more than 60 priests in the Galway diocese about the Murphy report on December 17th, and it is understood he was closely questioned. It is also understood that he was asked by his priests to explain his position on radio.
In his interview with RTÉ on December 18th, Dr Drennan urged Archbishop Martin to drop his name from the list of people who should potentially resign.
He said a question had been put over his integrity by the archbishop.
He also said he had responded to a letter from Archbishop Martin asking for a verdict on the way things were handled.
“I feel we have been through a spiral of revenge. I understand that people are angry . . . but taking the route of revenge is not going to bring any closure,” he said, adding he had received “huge” support in Galway.
Last weekend Galway West TD Frank Fahey said he should not resign, and some 93 per cent of callers to Galway Bay FM after his interview there expressed support for him.